MSR Zoid 1.5 Reviews

Reviewed by Liz (Crieff) on 2006-07-15:

General comments: This tent is light enough to carry. I took it on a trip to the Cairngorm plateau and it performed well enough. But I would not reccomend buying it. If you have dry weather it is fine. Scottish weather doesn't tend to be and this tent is no good in the rain. It's an inner first pitch for a start, which is useless in the rain. Secondly, it doesn't seem to be able to withstand a downpoor. I pitched it on another occasion and came back to it after a day of rain to find a big puddle of water inside. Not much use! I have another tent (Vango) that has served me really well for about 15 years and that pitches outer first or inner/outer together. I'm now looking for a solo tent that does the same.

General comments: The Zoid 1.5 is a very versatile, durable yet light tent. It has performed well in mountain marathons, in Norway and in the Cairngorms. The general low lying design of the tent means that when pitched into strong wind it stable and comfortable, however you cannot really sit up in it. It is roomy for one person and fine for two small people. The inner also has two massive storage pockets, which are amazingly useful. The reflective guide ropes can be easily removed to save weight but are vital in wet conditions to maintain the tension across the roof and prevent puddle formation. In heavy rain you can wake slightly damp. Without a footprint the inner groundsheet easily leaks. The inner is almost entirely netting, this keeps the midges out and keeps the tent cool, which under most circumstances is not an advantage! For some reason it is supplied with 11 pegs instead of the 12 which are needed for all the pegging points, it also comes with a pole repair kit. In summary it is a light weight tent and has all the normal draw backs associated with light weight gear but it gives you a good nights and a light rucksack in the morning.